Device for shaping pieces



F. AMIOT DEVICE FOR SHAPING PIECES Aug. 11, 1942.

Original Filed y a, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fe; u H) 7 r I t A u n v.

A 1942- F. AMIOT DEVICE FOR SHAPING PIECES oliginal Filed May 6, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patenterl' Aug. 11, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Device roi r s i rl fimc rmcns I Dividedand this application December 16, 1939, Serial No. 309,656. in Luxemburg April 15, 1939 9 Claims. (01. 153-32) The present invention which is a division of my copending application Serial No. 272,281, filed May 6, 1939, relates to devices for shaping pieces,

especially metal pieces by causing them to conform to shaping members or suitable curved pieces.

The chief object of the present invention-is to provide a device of the type above referred to whichis capable of meeting the requirements of practice, especially concerning the finish of the articles obtained and the rapidity of work.

The essential object of the present invention consists in subjecting the pieces to be treated, in the course of their shaping, to a given tension or stretching, preferably close to their elastic limit.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be hereinafter described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, given merely by way of example,

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a machine for bending sectional irons this machine being made according to the invention; V

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale on the line III-11.013 Fig. 1;

, Fig. 3 is a partial diagrammatic back view corresponding to Figs. 1 and 2.

In the following description with referenceto the drawings, the invention is applied to the bending and shaping of sheet iron pieces intended, for instance, for use in aeronautical construction. a

It is already known, for shaping such pieces, to take elements or irons of suitable section, either rectilinear or already curved, and apply them to shaping elements. I

One of the difiiculties that are met with is to ensure a perfect contact of the metal at all points with the shaping element. .As a matter of fact, some portions of the piece to be treated tend to form undulations or folds.

In order to obviatethese drawbacks, and also into contact with the bent element and there remains only to perfect the bending of said piece.

Or, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the tension or stretching is applied in several successive steps, and this, if need be, in'

correspondence with difierentvalues ofthetension; I construct, for instance, my machine in such manner that it applies, firstly, a relatively low tension f during the period of time-forwhich the piece is brought into contact with the shaping element, and then, after this contact has been established, subjects the piece to a higher tension F (which is'for instance, in the case above considered, close to the elastic limit, while the first value 1 averages F/10 or more).

Of course, the tension or stretching may be ap plied in a diiferent manner.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention, I

make use, in order to cause the piece to be treated to conform to the shape of the curved element,

ceed as follows.

of the tension applied to said piece, this tension serving, in combination with suitable guiding means, automatically to produce the desired dis placements or deformations.

bend a sectional iron I to the shape of a curvillinear element 2, for. example with a view to ob- 1 taining a rib element for an airplane wing, said iron, I preferably make use of pneumatic of hydraulic' means. In-particular, if a certain pneu- 40 matic pressureis'available, it is advantageous, es-

to obtain further advantages which will appear 1 hereinafter, I construct the machine in such manner, according to the present invention, that the pieces are subjected, in the course of, their shaping, to a suitable tension or stretching. which may approach the elastic limit of the metal of which said pieces are made.

tension may be applied only during a portion of this operation, especially at the end thereof, after the piece to be treatedhas already been brought 55 by balancing the frictionalstresses on the curved pecially if two operations are to take place at tensions f and F, to have this pressure acting through hydropneumatic relays, in such manner as to have, at will, either of two hydraulic pressince p and P, it being understood that it is poscured in any suitable manner; or

b. At least during the second step. of the process, at both ends in such manner as to obtain,

Supposing, for instance, that it is desired a. Either onlyat oneof the ends of the sectional iron, the otherend of said piece being seflexible conduits I and 8 and are connected to the sectional iron through jaws 9 of any suitable type holding the ends of said sectional iron' I.

Concerning now the means for bringing the sectional iron into intimate contact with the corresponding shaping piece, through the application of the pressure, they are, for instance, advantageously made as follows:

One of the motors, for instance, is pivotally secured at It to the fram ll of the machine;

The other motor is carried by a carriage l2 capable of moving along a guiding path element l3 arranged in such manner that the application of the pressure tends to cause said carriage to move forward along said path in the desired direction. In order to obtain this result, the tangent to the guiding path should make, with the direction of the effort exerted by the pressure, an angle difierent from 90, .which angle will be calculated in a suitable manner as a function of said pressure (this obliquity corresponding, for instance, to a gradient, of, say, 10%).

The guiding rail I3 is, for instance, carried, by a support H which may also carry means for controlling the pressure such as IS, a pressure gauge [6, and so on.

Advantageously, I further provide means for coordinating the displacements or deformations 'of the piece to be bent with the control of the pressure, in such manner that the passage from pressure p to pressure P can take place only when the piece comes into its bent position on shaping element 2.

For this purpose, for instance, carriage l2 cancome, at the end of its movement, into engagement with a locking member [1. Said member coacts with the end 20 of a finger 2| carried by the operating wheel i 5 of the machine. Normally, locking member 20, in cooperation with IT, prevents wheel from being turned in the direction of'arrow f. When the carriage passes 3) adapted to bring into play first electro-valve 24 and then electro-valve 25.

I thus obtain a system which works in the following manner:

At the beginning of a shaping operation, the sectional iron occupies a position such as shown in solid lines by Fig. 1. The relays are then in communication with the atmosphere, which corresponds to the zero positionjFig. 1) of wheel I5.

This wheel i5 is then operated in direction f until it comes into position I, illustrated by Fig. 1, for which the low pressure is introduced into motor 6, for instance through the action of valve 24 and cook 21. The component of this pressure in the direction of the rolling track I 3 immediately produces the displacement of carriage l2.

Sectional iron I is caused to conform to the shape of piece 2. The reaction at the other end, at 5, is supported, in the embodiment illustrated, by the drawings, by the frame of the machine, due to the fact that the jaw 9 on the left hand side is applied against the shaping member 2, or the frame I l.

When the carriage I2 comes near to the end of its movement, it acts upon locking member l1. Consequently, finger 2| is unlocked, so that the operator can actuate wheel I so as to bring it into "position 2, which causes the high pressure to be admitted to both of the motors I and I.

Finally, when it is found that the deformations of the piece have become permanent, the hand wheel I5 is brought back to the zero position, which stops the action of the pressure.

- It is then possible to remove the finished piece.

Means, such as a winch l8 and a cable l9, may be provided for bringing back carriage H to its initial position. Furthermore, a compressed air conduit 30 (Fig. 3), provided with a I cock 3|, may also be provided for bringing back (position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1) locking member I! is moved away, and the operating wheel I5 can be turned. I might provide any other equivalent means and, in particular, member I! might be adapted automatically to produce the shifting from pressure p to pressure P.

In Fig. 3, I have shown, by way of example, several means for the control of the pressure applied by the apparatus.

The hydropneumatic relays shown at 22 (low pressure) and 23 (high pressure) are electrically controlled, through electro-valves 24, 25. In one position, these electro-valves, admit into the corresponding cylinder the air from the compressed air main conduit 26 and, in the other position,

they connect said cylinder with the exhaust, it I being well understood that, instead of this electric control, I might provide any other type of control, for instance a pneumatic control.

The operating wheel, such as l5 (Fig. 1) is adapted simultaneously to control:

a. 0n the one hand, a three way cock 21 (Fig. 3) which acts, in a first position, to connect cylinder 6 to. the low pressure relay, and, in a second position, to connect both of the cylinders 5 and 6 to the high pressure-relay; and,

b. 0n the other hand, a switch 28 (Figs. 1 and the pistons of the motors to their initial positions, by discharging the liquid toward relays 22, 23.

On the other hand, it should be noted that,

in order to avoid the risk of the lips of the sectional iron being moved toward each other, during the stretching operation, I may place between them small spacing members 29 (Fig. 2). Also, it should be noted that a single carriage l2 and a single motor system I, 6 might be used for bending a plurality of sectional irons over one or more shaping elements.

These shaping elements 2 might further be made deformable at will in such manner as to permit 'shapings of all kinds. Likewise, support- .the tension.

Of course, before and after the shaping, the pieces may be subjected to all suitable thermic operations.

In a general manner, while I have, in the above description, disclosed what I seem tobe frame, a shaping member supported. by said frame and adapted to receive'along its edge the piece to be shaped, a track supported bysaid frame and located substantially in the general plane of said shaping member, a carriage movable along said track, a stretching device, op-

erative by fluid under pressure, carried by said located substantially in the general plane of said shaping member, a carriage, adapted to be secured to the other end of said piece, movable along said track, and means for stretching said piece between said carriage and said holding means, said track having such a shape as to produce, upon the operation of said stretching means, a component force in a direction to cause displacement of said carriage'along said track in the direction corresponding to the application of said piece against said shaping member.

' 2. An apparatus for shaping an elongated metal piece which comprises, in combination, a frame, a shaping member supported by said frame and adapted to receive along its edge the piece to be shaped, a track supported by said frame and located substantially in the general plane of said shaping member, a carriage movable along said track, a stretching device, opera-' tive by fluid under pressure, carried by said carriage and adapted to hold one end of said piece to be shaped, another stretching device adapted I to hold the other end of said piece and pivoted to said frame near the end of said shaping mem .ber, said track having such a shape as to produce,- upon the operation of at least one of said stretching means, a component force in a direction to cause displacement of said carriage along said track in the direction corresponding to the application of said piece against said shaping member, and means for controlling said stretching devices. r

3. An apparatus for shaping an elongated metal piece which comprises, in combination, a

frame, a shaping member supported by said frame and adapted to receive along its edge the carriage and adapted to hold one end of said' piece to be shaped, another stretching device,

operative by fluid under pressure, pivoted to said frame near the end of said shapingmember and adapted to hold the other end of said piece to 'be shaped, said track having such a shape as to produce, when said stretching devices are in action, a component force in a direction to cause displacement of said carriage along said track in the direction corresponding to the application of said piece against said shaping member, a source of fluid under lowpressure, a source of fluid under high pressure, means for connecting either of said sources with at least one of said stretching devices, a control member having two positions corresponding one to the bringing of said means into connecting'relationwith said source of low,

pressure and the other to the bringing of said means into connecting relation with said source of high pressure, locking means normally preventing said control member from coming into said second mentioned position, and'means operative by said carriage for bringingsaid locking means out of action when said carriage has come into the position corresponding to the piece to be shaped being fully applied against the shaping member. i

.5. An apparatus for. shaping. an elongated metal piece which comprises, incombination, a

shaping member against which said piece is to be applied, means for holding the 'two ends of said piece and for applying said piece against said shaping member, a stretching device operative by fluid under pressure, and arranged between said holding means and atleast one end of said piece, means for feeding fluid under predetermined moderate pressure of a constant value and control means for'rendering operative the piece to be shaped, a track supported by said' frame and located substantially in the general plane of said shaping member, a carriage movable along said track, a stretching device, opera- ,tive by fluid under pressure, carried by said car- 'j iage and adapted to hold one -end.of'said piece to be shaped, another stretching device, opera-- tive by fluid under pressure, pivoted to said frame near the end of said shaping member and adapted to .hold the other 'end of saidpiece to be shaped, said track having such a shape as to produce, when said stretching devices are in ac-- tion, a component foroe in a direction to cause displacement of said carriage along saidtrack in the direction corresponding to the application of said piece against said shaping member, means for feeding fluid under moderate pressure to said stretching devices, means for feeding fluid under high pressure to said stretching devices, and

one or the other of the last mentioned means.

6. An apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising means adapted to render inoperative said second mentioned fluid feeding meansas long asthe piece to be shaped has not been fully applied against the shaping member.

7. An apparatus for shaping an elongated metal piece which comprises, in combination, a frame, a shaping member supported by said frame and adapted to receive along its edge the piece to be shaped, a track supported by said frame and located substantially in the general plane of said shaping member, .a carriage mov-' able along said track, means for connecting said carriage with one end of said piece to be shaped, another means for connecting pivotally the other end of said piece to the said frame near the end of said shaping member, a'j least one stretching device interposed in one of said connecting means, said track having such a shape as to produce, when said stretching device is in action, a component force in a direction to cause dis-' placement of said carriage along said track in the direction corresponding to the application of said piece against said shaping member, means for feeding fluid under moderate pressure to said stretching device, means for feeding fluid under high pressure to said stretching device, and

means operative by said carriage for keeping said second mentioned fluid feeding means in inoperative position as long as said carriage has not come, along said track, into a position corresponding to the piece to be shaped being fully applied against the shaping member.

8. An apparatus for shaping an elongated metal piece which comprises, in combination, a shaping member against which said piece is to be applied, means for holding one end of said piece adjacent one end of said shaping mem-' 9. An apparatus for shaping an elongated metal piece which comprises, in combination, a shaping member against which said piece is to be applied, first and second means for holding the two ends of said piece, said second means being movable between first and second relative positions for applying said piece against said shapingmember, means for exerting a tension on said piece and for causing said second holding means to move between said first and second positions, a control member for varying the ten-' sion exerting means, said control member including a restraining means for limiting the controlling movement of said control member, said restraining means being movable between operative and inoperative positions, and means driven by movement 01' said second holding means to said second position to move said restraining means to said inoperative position.

FELIX AMIOT. 

